RIO DE JANEIRO, March 6 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a nursing home collapse in Brazil's southeastern state of Minas Gerais has risen to 12, the local fire department said Friday.

The department said that after the last victim trapped in ruins, a 77-year-old woman, was found dead more than 24 hours after the accident, the rescue work came to an end.

Eight people were rescued alive from the rubble and nine others managed to leave the building on their own before the collapse.

Preliminary reports indicated that the collapse may have been caused by human intervention in the building's structure, according to the local Civil Defense.

According to the authorities, expansion work was undertaken on the property, although it is still too early to affirm any correlation between the intervention and the collapse.

Investigation into the cause of the collapse is still underway. ■